Fireside Chat: Karen Sandstrom + George Kozmon

Join us for Cleveland Institute of Art’s Fireside Chat, a series of fun and insightful virtual conversations between some of the most interesting creative thinkers we know.

Our next Fireside Chat will feature two CIA alums—writer and illustrator Karen Sandstrom and internationally collected painter George Kozmon—who will discuss their artistic practices. They’ll also explore what it means to continue to learn and take risks as an artist—themes familiar to many creatives, especially those who participate in CIA’s Summer Teacher Residency. Kozmon leads the 10-day program, which invites arts educators from across the country to CIA’s campus to create a new body of studio work and reinvigorate their teaching practice.

This event will be hosted on Zoom. To receive a link, please contact Anna Galipo via email or by calling 216.421.7957.

Karen Sandstrom is a writer, illustrator and former journalist who wrote and edited for several Ohio newspapers. At The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, she was book review editor, features editor and a feature writer. She has also published work in The Washington Post and Art & Antiques. Her illustrations have been published by Boyds Mills & Kane, The Plain Dealer, Crain’s Cleveland Business and Edible Cleveland. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in journalism from Bowling Green State University in 1983 and her BFA in Illustration from Cleveland Institute of Art in 2012. She works as a content manager at Cleveland Clinic and is writing and illustrating a picture book for children. Her website is karensandstrom.com and she’s on Instagram at @karensandstrom.

George Kozmon, an internationally collected artist, is best known for his monumental paintings, which have been widely exhibited and critically acclaimed throughout the U.S. and abroad. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the National Endowment for the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship and four Ohio Arts Council grants. His résumé reflects more than 30 solo exhibitions in commercial, academic and institutional venues, and more than 100 two-person, invitational or group shows. Kozmon’s work is represented in prestigious public and private collections, including the Cleveland Museum of Art; the Akron Art Museum; Hyatt Regency in Cologne, Germany; IBM in Armonk, N.Y.; The Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio; Astor Residence Hotel in London, England; and The Progressive Art Collection in Cleveland.